Muggle Studies
by Serina-chan
Summary: Hermione's Muggle Studies class gets a new project. No specific pairing. DHr only lightly touched.
1. Muggle Studies

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: **I only own the plot. I don't own Wal-Mart nor do I own Harry Potter. Also while working on "How Strong do You Think I Am" I had mentioned that the first few people who reviewed would get a character in a story. So say hello to the OC character Alyscia.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione slowly trudged her way to the back of the store where she opened her locker and put on her vest. She was starting to have mixed feelings about this new class project that Dumbledore had the bright idea to think of. For a project in Muggle Studies her whole class had to get jobs in the muggle world. No magic was allowed to be used and all of the students had to act like they did not know each other since they would be working at the same place since it was "convenient" for the teacher and headmaster. There place of employment was Wal-Mart, some random store that not many of the students had even heard of.

Hermione had secured a job as a Sales Associate in the Fashion Department, working in Intimates. Hermione had managed to convince Harry and Ron to sign up for Muggle Studies last year (on the promise to help with their homework) and Harry was in Automotives, poor magical Ron was stuck in Electronics and Ginny was in Shoes. Ginny had been bumped ahead a year for Muggle Studies, so Hermione was happy to also have her along. When Lavender had announced to the two girls that she was in Cosmetics and Parvati was to be in Health and Beauty, Hermione and Ginny found it to be quite ironic. Neville, as luck would have it, was in the Garden Centre, so he would get the joy of working with plants. The Golden Trio had no interest where everyone else was situated, but they were sure they would eventually hear about who was where from Ginny.

--

"Hermione, wait up!"

Hermione turned to see Ginny dodging confused customers, her long red braid swinging behind her.

Hermione laughed. "I thought we are not supposed to know each other?"

Ginny paused and then pouted. "Well, I just had to tell you where Draco Malfoy got put," she gave a dramatic pause before continuing. "He is in receiving, so he will be walking past shoes and intimates a lot, and he has to be nice, since he has to act like he doesn't know us!"

Hermione grinned. "He's probably just going to throw a fit, seeing as how in receiving you do a lot of lifting and moving heavy objects."

"This will be great! I wonder how often he will complain about doing 'slave work' and how his father will hear about it," laughed Ginny. "But we should get to work now, so I'll come introduce myself to you later."

The two smiling girls separated into their own departments and introduced themselves to the people who would be showing them around their perspective departments for the day.

--

Later in the lunch room, Hermione stood in front of Harry, who was moodily eating his lunch.

"Hello, I am Hermione Granger," she chirped.

Harry looked up with a smile on his face. "Hi Hermione!"

Hermione looked at him pointedly.

"Oh, my name is Harry Potter, it is nice to meet you! Would you like to join me for lunch?" he asked.

Hermione smiled. "That would be lovely. Thank you for asking me."

She sat down and the two best friends laughed at the absurdity of their conversation before continuing on to the topic of their new jobs. They talked about who they met and what they had to do, although Harry did go a little red at hearing about Hermione's job description.

--

Later when Hermione was tidying up the pyjama section, she heard a crash as something heavy came down. She looked up to see Malfoy bent over picking up some of the many boxes that had fallen off of his skid.

Once he was done picking them all up, he continued on his way without a rude comment or look shot Hermione's way. Hermione was shocked, to say the least. Hermione noticed that his posture was straight and his hair was not slicked back with all of that gel like usual. She continued to let her eyes wander and took note of how nice he looked in a muggle outfit of slightly baggy, light blue jeans, black sneakers, and a red t-shirt.

After he was long gone, Hermione mentally slapped herself for thinking that Malfoy of all people even looked remotely good.

"He's Malfoy, he isn't _supposed _to look good," she thought.

She looked towards the Shoe department and caught Ginny starring after Malfoy. When she finally caught Ginny's eye, Ginny winked before walking away.

--

Back at Hogwarts, after everyone was fed and watered, Hermione sat in the common room with Harry, Ron and Ginny. They would snicker every once in a while since they were listening to Lavender and Parvati giggle how hot Draco Malfoy looked, how many "so not pretty" girls would come to their departments, and about all the cute boys that walked by.

Hermione leaned over and whispered to Ginny. "I am so glad that you are not like those two girls over there."

Ginny giggled. "I can be sometimes. You should know."

Hermione smiled. "I know. But at least it is not all the time."

--

**A/N: **My previous story that I am struggling to write has about 738 hits and 10 reviews. Lets see if we can do better here, agreed? Constructive criticism is helpful and flames are unnecessary. Please hit that little button and send in a Review.

**Next Chapter: **Hermione and Draco actually speak to each other and Alyscia is introduced.


	2. First Encounter

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: **I only own the plot. I don't own Wal-Mart nor do I own Harry Potter. Alyscia makes her debut in this chapter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Hermione dragged herself to work again, she found out she had the honour of working until midnight. She was just grateful that it was a Friday so that she would not have to worry too much about getting all of her homework for the next week done.

Her shift so far had been uneventful, but when she went on her break is when she felt things picked up.

While she was sitting back in the lunch room, enjoying the quiet since no one else was around, Draco Malfoy walked in and sulked over to the fridge to get his lunch.

What happened next made Hermione swear her eyes almost popped out of her head.

Draco Malfoy looked over at her and spoke.

"So what time are you here until?"

Hermione blinked at him for a moment before answering. "I'm here until midnight. How about you?"

Malfoy set his lunch on the table across the room from hers. "Midnight. Same as every night."

He sat down at his table and put on his head phones and ended the conversation. Hermione looked around the room for a bit amazed that he, Draco Malfoy, was actually civil to _her_. Finally she got up and walked in a semi-daze out of the lunch room to go back to work.

--

Ginny came walking over to Hermione and playfully flicked her shoulder. "I am _so_ jealous! Malfoy sat in the back room with you _and_ you two were speaking."

Hermione stared at her red haired friend at a loss for words. "How did you know that?"

Ginny laughed. "I went to get a band aid from my purse and I saw you two in the lounge."

"Yeah, and we were the only two back there for most of the hour." replied Hermione.

Ginny squealed. "Oh, you are so lucky! But I have to go back to shoes now so I will catch you later."

Hermione just grinned and rolled her eyes at the back of her retreating friend.

--

Later during the day Ginny once again wandered over to Hermione's part of the Wal-Mart world, but only this time she had another girl with her. Ginny introduced her as Alyscia and then took her back to the shoe department.

Hermione found it rather funny that Ginny would rather talk to muggles who she more than likely would never see again than actually do her work.

"I guess I should remember that it is just Ginny's nature to make a lot of friends and help people feel welcome than actually work. It's just how she is at school, too." Hermione chuckled to herself.

--

Back at Hogwarts Hermione and Ginny were discussing the days events when Ron and Harry joined them by plunking down onto the couch beside them.

Ron groaned. "Today somebody asked me where they could get some game system called and X-box 360, and I had no idea where to look. I had to get Alyscia to help me. Man was I ever embarrassed to discover that it was not too far from where I was standing. What makes it even worse is that Alyscia doesn't even work in Electronics. She works with Ginny. She just happened to be walking by on her way for her break and she happened to know where they were."

Hermione and Ginny could not help but laugh at Ron's misfortune.

Ginny grinned at Harry. "So, Harry. How was your day?"

Harry sighed. "I had this one customer come to Automotives looking for a paint tray of all things. I told him that it would be in the Paint department, but he kept insisting that he was directed over here. I finally had to lead him over to Paint and show him where it was. He just looked at me and grabbed one and then walked away."

Once again Hermione and Ginny laughed, only this time at Harry's misfortune.

Ron and Harry just looked at them and shrugged.

--

**A/N: ** Constructive criticism is helpful and flames are unnecessary. Please hit that little button and send in a Review. Since this story is not intended to be very long, I think there are only a few more chapters left for me to type up and post. Depending on feedback will determine just how many more are left.

**Next Chapter: **Draco and Hermione have another encounter, a Hogsmeade trip is in order and we hear some news about the class.


	3. Hogsmeade

**Hogsmeade**

**A/N: **I only own the plot. I don't own Wal-Mart nor do I own Harry Potter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione woke up at 8:00am Saturday morning. She put on a pair of hipster jeans and a pink t-shirt. Over top of her shirt she put on her blue sweater with pink skulls and zipped it up while stepping into her grey and pink skater shoes. She tried to comb her hair but it was just as frizzy as ever. The only time her hair was actually curly was when it was wet. She was about to leave her dorm room when she realized she had forgotten to put socks on. She quickly took of her shoes and put on some baby pink fuzzy socks before putting her shoes back on her feet.

As she was making her way down to the Great Hall for breakfast she walked right into the path of Draco Malfoy.

"Watch where you're going you filthy -" Malfoy suddenly cut himself off, sneered at Hermione and shoved his way past her to continue to where ever it was he was going.

Hermione stared blankly at where he had been standing before shrugging to herself and continuing on her way to breakfast.

--

When she entered the Great Hall she made her way over to her friends and sat down beside Ginny who was wearing black jeans, a blue modestly low cut shirt with light blue flowers on it, her dark blue skater shoes and a nice silver watch. Her vibrant red hair was pulled back into two French braids. Ron and Harry were sitting across from them and as usual they looked like they had just thrown themselves together without any thought.

Ron was hovering over his food as usual while Harry was trying to use his manners as best as he could in an effort to impress Ginny.

The four friends discussed over breakfast what their plans for the day were going to be. They finally decided that they would join their classmates on going to Hogsmeade and pick up some candy(for Ron and Harry), some books and extra quills(for Hermione), and some makeup and hair product(for Ginny). They went to go get their money and made their way to the carriages, thankful for the opportunity to spend the day together with no worry about work and homework.

--

As they were walking through Hogsmeade they came across Malfoy and his two shadows.

"So what are you losers doing here? I don't see how you two Weasleys even have spending money considering where you live and the clothes you wear," Malfoy sneered as he cast his eyes over Ron's moth eaten wool sweater. "And you Potter," he spat. " I am surprised you can even get anything since I don't see how your parents had the opportunity to leave a will or any inheritance for you before the Dark Lord removed them from your life. And you Granger. You should not even be privileged to have any wizarding money since you are just a filthy little muggle."

Ron's ears and neck were rapidly turning as red as his hair. Harry was ready to knock Malfoy to the ground while Ginny was trying her best to restrain him by clenching the back of his sweater. Hermione on the other hand just stood there wondering what happened to Malfoys frequent use of the term Mudblood.

Malfoy sneered at them all and shoved his way through them to continue on his way.

--

Other than their encounter with Malfoy, their day was pretty much uneventful. Harry and Ron had bought more candy than was necessary, Ginny bought some hairspray, mousse, and chi cream along with some eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara. Hermione of course bought more books than she intended to(six instead of two) and also two new quills. Harry joked that she should have gotten new ink instead since most of it ended up staining her hands instead of on her paper. Hermione just laughed.

They decided that they would walk back to the school instead of taking the carriages since it was such a nice day. So they shrunk their packages and stuck them into their pockets and started their walk. Along the way they had a lengthy snowball fight; Ginny and Hermione against Ron and Harry. So when the eventually arrived back at the school, they were covered in light cool snow with pink cheeks, just in time for the evening meal. They stuffed their scarves, mitts, and toques into a cubby behind a tapestry since they did not have time to go up to their dorms, and made their way into the Great Hall.

--

Once again, back to work. Hermione let out a heavy sigh. Sometimes she enjoyed her job. Other times not so much. She liked going to work and basking in the light that Ginny cast her in when Malfoy was nice to her. That was the good part of work.

What she didn't like at work was other Associates talking about her when she was not around. She knew it was no different than when students talked about her at school, but it still stung her deep inside to know that she was still talked about, even by people who barely knew her.

She grabbed her vest out of her locker and grudgingly swiped in.

One thing she could smile about was Dumbledore was slowly starting to end the class. It just was not working out the way he had planned. Students were constantly getting fired, in fact, Lavender had just gotten fired before the weekend. Students were also slacking off at work and at their studies, so excuses were being thought up so the students could have legible reasons to quit.

Hermione grinned happily, checked her schedule and squared her shoulders to go out onto the floor and start her shift.

--

Ginny beckoned Hermione to come over and hide in the Shoe department. Hermione looked both ways to make sure that she would not get run over by a receiver before crossing the action alley over to Ginny.

As Ginny opened her mouth to speak, the girls heard squeaky wheels coming and turned to see Draco pulling his skid down the aisle. The two girls then did an immature thing; they followed him with unblinking eyes and giggled softly.

Hermione turned to Ginny. "You know, Malfoy is almost like Jekyll and Hyde. He is fairly nice and civil at work, yet almost his old self back at school. It actually kind of sucks."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "Well, I heard that he is quitting because he is getting a job in a place called Canada."

Hermione blinked. "For what?"

"Carpentry."

"Oh."

"Yup."

Hermione leaned closer to Ginny and whispered in her ear. "Who thought up that idea?"

Ginny whispered back. "Dumbledore."

Hermione wandered back over to Intimates, hooked some bras onto her vest pockets and gradually got to work. She had decided to quit a few weeks after Ginny, who happened to be quitting a few weeks after Malfoy.

Hermione grinned happily at Alyscia who was walking by and thought about how happy she would be to only have school work to worry about.

--

**A/N: ** Constructive criticism is helpful and flames are unnecessary. Please hit that little button and send in a Review. Since this story is not intended to be very long, I think there are only a few more chapters left for me to type up and post. Depending on feedback will determine just how many more are left.

**Next Chapter: **The last one!


End file.
